Indeed, it did, the Patriots bursting from the 5-3 record they were left with at midseason after consecutive losses at Pittsburgh (25-17) and to – coincidentally enough – the Giants, 24-20, at Gillette Stadium on Nov. 6.

“I know since I’ve been here, in four seasons we hadn’t lost back-to-back games,” Patriots special teams captain Matthew Slater said on Friday. “That was tough, obviously. When you’re used to be successful as a team, that wasn’t easy at all, but when you’re put through the first sometimes it’s better in the end.

“I think that adversity midway through the season might have been the best thing for us. When things are cruising and everything’s going well, you really don’t test the character of a team.

“I think it was a character-testing point in the season for us and we responded in the right way and I think that speaks to the type of guys that we have on this team, guys that have bought into the team concept, guys that believe in one another and believe in what we were doing and we were able to be resilient through that down point in the season and now we’ve been able to string together win after win.”

Since that loss to the Giants on a 1-yard touchdown toss from quarterback Eli Manning to tight end Jake Ballard with 15 seconds to go, the Patriots have gone on a 10-game tear in which they’ve outscored their foes, 359-188, their average margin of victory during that stretch 17.1 points.

Coincidentally again, just as the Giants’ turnaround began with a win over the Jets, so did the Patriots – 37-16 at Gillette on Nov. 13.

The Patriots have even beaten a team with a winning record, the Baltimore Ravens during that stretch, their 23-20 decision in last Sunday’s AFC Championship Game in Foxboro marking a first for the 2011 squad heading into its rematch with the Giants in Indianapolis.

“Guys knew that we had to turn it up and we did that,” Patriots safety James Ihedigbo said, “and we’ve gotten to this point.”

Since losing at home to Washington, 23-10, on Dec. 18 to get swept in their season series with the lowly Redskins, the Giants have won five in a row beginning with a 29-14 decision over the Jets, 29-14, by a cumulative score of 141-67, their average margin of victory during that stretch also in double figures at 14.8.

The Giants’ most recent victories were road wins over the NFC’s top two seeds, Green Bay (37-20) and San Francisco (20-17 in overtime) in the NFC title game last Sunday.

“They’re a heck of a ball club,” Patriots defensive lineman Vince Wilfork said. “It seems like the later in the season it gets, the better they get. They peak at the right time.”

The Giants had no choice, their loss to the Redskins setting them up for a series of elimination games they’ve aced during what seems to be their annual campaign to save Tom Coughlin’s job.

“Obviously a great football team, (they’ve) done a lot of things well all year and (they’re playing) their best football of the season over the last five, six weeks or so,” Patriots head coach Bill Belichick said. “They’ve really been impressive.”

“Stats wise, I’m telling you, where they were ranked at in November (when the two teams met), they’re not ranked at anymore across the board – offense, defense, special teams,” Patriots wide receiver Deion Branch said. “It’s the same team, same personnel. The guys are just playing a lot better.”

“I think they’ve gotten hot at the right time. We’ve also gotten hot at the same time,” said Slater. “And there you have it.”

Contact Glen Farley at gfarley@ENTERPRISENEWS.com.

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